Gibson - GuitarZone.com FORUM

How much did you purchase this item for? 1,248$ CAN
Where did you purchase this item? Steve's Music Store (Ottawa)
Is this item new or used? Brand spankin' new (2004)

Features: This beautiful guitar has a mohagany body and a rosewood fingerboard, 22 frets with pearloid trapezoid inlays, chrome plated hardware, 490R Alnico (neck) and 498T Alnico (bridge) humbuckers. It's got a tune-o-matic bridge and stop bar. Mine has the classic "Heritage Cherry" finish on it. Appearence is definately 10/10. This is a VERY thin guitar. I'd say it's no more than just over 1 inch thick. Very light aswell.

Construction: So far, it's been pretty sturdy. No loose pieces, everything is aligned perfect on it. The neck is straight, there's no flaws in the guitar's body. The fret job is pretty nice too. Very smooth- no buzzes or dead spots. SGs are notorious for having a bad neck/body joint. As long as you don't lean it up against a wall for a week, you'll be fine. But even if I lay it down on my bed whilst I'm off doing somethign else, I always place a pillow under the neck so that it's got that extra cushion so that by any chance the neck won't warp on me. Action was very nice from day 1. My ONLY complaint would have to be the finish. It is very soft. On the back of the guitar, there's already a bunch of small scratches where my belt buckle rubs up against it when I play. And there's a slightly noticable scratch on the top "horn" where I was wiping it with a cloth, and that alone scratched it.

Sound: Beeeeeaaaauuuutiful. I play my SG through a Fender Deluxe 112 Plus amp. I don't use many effects (rarely I use a Zoom 505ii, but mostly for recordings). I find that no matter what settings I use on the amp or guitar, it sounds best at medium volume (but then again, that could just be my amp...). When played clean with a touch of reverb, it's tone can send shivers up your spine. It's got a very clear, rich tone- no matter what humbucker you use. At medium distortion, it's got that classic vintage sound (think AC/DC

). Still, it's very clear and it's not muddy unless you want it to be. I find it's best to keep your Highs around 8, Mids around 5 and Lows at 2-3 at med-dist. It just sounds so great. At high distortion: HOLY CRAP. This baby can handle it and take it to the max. Playing lead like this gives you fat killer tone that really, I can't describe. It's got so much bite and attitude. The sustain is pretty decent no matter how much gain you use. It's perfect for rocking out!

Ease of Use: You can access them upper frets with no effort at all. The bigger neck was a small adjustment I had to make because of my smaller hands, but now, it's no problem at all. Aswell as the bridge, just because I went from playing a cheap strat copy for almost 2 years, to this. Yeah, this is a really easy guitar to play and to get a good sound from.

Reliability: Hasn't let me down yet! I've done a few gigs with it and it's a great gigging guitar. This guitar was made to rock, so there's no problem there. It's built great, and I'd trust it in any playing situation. Like I said before, it's so easy to get good tones from it, so I guess it would be good to have if you needed the versatility.

Overall: In my opinion, it gets a 10/10. It looks great, sounds great, feels great. Everything I ask for in a guitar. I would definately get another one if this one got stolen... or even just another one for the hell of it. I wouldn't recommend this guitar to a beginner beginner person- just for the reason that they wouldn't know how to care for it properly, and it's a far too exquisite instrument to start off on. It will heighten your expectations, that's for sure.

Experience Level: I've been playing for just over 2 years. I play loads of classic rock stuff, and some post rock.

I hope this guitar lasts me the rest of my guitar playing career. I'd be at a loss without it- my first born child